Man Held In Slaying Acquitted Of Stabbing Drug Dealer To Death

DAYTONA BEACH — A Daytona Beach man whose murder trial ended in a hung jury last month was acquitted Wednesday by a judge who said the state had not produced enough evidence for a conviction.

Less than three weeks ago, a 12-member jury failed to reach a verdict in the case of Kevin Eugene Wilmot, 28, accused of stabbing a drug dealer in March 1984.

The ruling by Circuit Judge James Foxman prevents prosecutors from retrying Wilmot on the charge unless the decision is overturned on appeal. Assistant State Attorney Charlene Hood said she had not yet decided whether to appeal.

Wilmot had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Steven Walsh, 34, Daytona Beach, but during the trial Foxman reduced the charge to second-degree murder.

Defense attorney Carmen Corrente said at a hearing Wednesday that the state had not disproved Wilmot's claim that he acted in self-defense. The blood- spattered walls in the apartment where Walsh was killed indicate there was a struggle, Corrente said.

Hood said Wilmot's claim that he was being choked to near unconsciousness is implausible because Wilmot managed to stab Walsh five times in the chest. Walsh also was stabbed in the upper back, court records say.

Foxman said the case was difficult to prosecute because the sole witness had been killed. But he added, ''even in the light most favorable to the state, I find the evidence is insufficient to warrant a conviction.''

After the acquittal, Wilmot, handcuffed and wearing an orange Volusia County jail jumpsuit, thanked the judge.

Daytona Beach police arrested Wilmot after finding him and a woman in the men's room of a gas station. Police said Wilmot was washing blood off his clothes and his body. Wilmot told the police the woman had just had an abortion, but investigators found that was untrue.

The woman, Jane Ryan, 31, Daytona Beach, pleaded no contest to being an accessory to a murder and was sentenced to two years probation.